When Two Worlds Collide.

Living abroad isn't easy. It isn't easy to immerse yourself in a culture where language barriers keep you from talking to everyone you meet. It isn't easy to leave behind everything you know and love about home to go somewhere and fall in love with a whole new place. It isn't easy to create new friendships while still holding on to all the relationships that you've spent your entire life cultivating.

For me, that's the hardest part. The people who I have left behind. I miss Taco Bell something fierce and my heart longs to be at Mentor Headlands. I crave grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup every Friday at lunchtime, without fail. And I've considered paying large sums of money for the opportunity to just sit in a seat at Jacobs Field. But I miss the people more. I miss my best friends, I miss my mom and dad, and oddly enough, I even miss my brother and sister.

Last week I didn't have to miss everyone. Last week Pilgrim came to Siguatepeque for their annual missions trip and I was able to spend countless hours with my dad as well as many others from my church.

All the girls with our dads.

We played with Grade One and Two. We sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". We went to the market. We traveled to the lake and chopped down a banana tree. I shared my everyday life with my father. And it was fantastic.

Grade One.

I wouldn't trade having my dad here for anything. It was my best week here so far. But it's hard when people from home leave. It's so nice having someone here who knows who I was before I was Miss Caitlin. I can get so caught up in being Miss Caitlin. I have to teach, I have to plan, I have to tend to the needs for 48 students and make sure that they know they are loved and cared for while also learning and excelling at English, I have to meet with parents, I have to meet with other teachers. And I love doing at these things, I love being a teacher, but I wasn't always Miss Caitlin. 

For much of my life, I was just Caitlin. Usually just Cait and sometimes Caitlin Rebecca. I'd go to the beach, I'd hang out with my friends, I'd go to church with my family. I spent countless hours watching movies with my dad and shopping with my mom. My brother and I fought at every available opportunity. My sister and I still choose to sleep in the same room because we have so much to say after spending all day together.

That's how my family knows me-- as the one who cries too much and burps too loudly, the one who goes to church 8 times a week and would rather stay home and read a book than have to go out and be social. I'm not Miss Caitlin, I'm just Caitlin. And that's okay with them.

I love being Miss Caitlin, but it's nice to be reminded that Caitlin is okay, too. Thank you, Daddy, for coming to Honduras and helping with my kiddos, for always being up for a shady Honduran adventure. But mostly, thanks for helping me remember who I am.